SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Evans Samuel Santos Diaz, age 26, formerly of Pittston, Pennsylvania, was convicted of participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy involving Jeffrey Guzman and others. The jury returned a verdict of guilty after three and a half hours of deliberation following a two-day trial in Scranton, before United States District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion. The jury further found that the conspiracy involved heroin, cocaine, and cocaine base, or crack.

According to United States Attorney Bruce D. Brandler, this drug trafficking ring distributed more than 100 grams of heroin, cocaine, and crack cocaine. One hundred grams of heroin is equivalent to more than 4,000 individual doses of heroin. Santos Diaz was convicted as a result of a two months’ long investigation that included the use of a Title III wiretap to intercept telephone calls and text messages between the conspirators. Santos Diaz was the sixth and final individual charged in this conspiracy to be convicted.

The investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan Gotlob and Sean Camoni prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of a district wide initiative to combat the nationwide epidemic regarding the use and distribution of heroin. Led by the United States Attorney’s Office, the Heroin Initiative targets heroin traffickers operating in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and is part of a coordinated effort among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who commit heroin related offenses.